HHS Special Exposure Cohort Determination:

St. Louis Airport Storage Site, St. Louis, Missouri

HHS Determination Concerning a Petition to Add Members to the 

Special Exposure Cohort

Under the 

Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000

Determination Concerning a Petition for Employees from 

The

St. Louis Airport Storage Site 

St. Louis, Missouri 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Determination:

St. Louis Airport Storage Site, St. Louis, Missouri Page 1

I. Determination

I, Sylvia M. Burwell, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

(HHS), have determined that the employees defined in Section II of this report do not meet 

the statutory criteria for addition to the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC), as authorized under 

the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 

(EEOICPA), 42 U.S.C. § 7384q.

[Signature on File]________ April 9, 2015_________________

Sylvia M. Burwell Date

II. Employee Class Definition

All employees of the Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, and their 

contractors and subcontractors who worked at the St. Louis Airport Storage Site in St. 

Louis, Missouri from November 3, 1971, through December 31, 1973, and from 

January 1, 1984, through December 31, 1998.

III. Decision Criteria and Recommendations

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, to designate a class for addition to the SEC, the Secretary 

must determine, upon recommendation of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker 

Health (the Board), that:

(1) it is not feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose that the class 

received; and

(2) there is a reasonable likelihood that such radiation dose may have endangered the 

health of members of the class.

The SEC final rule states in 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1) that it is feasible in two situations to 

estimate the radiation dose that the class received with sufficient accuracy. First, the rule 

states that radiation doses may be estimated with sufficient accuracy if the Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 

(NIOSH) has established that it has access to sufficient information to estimate the maximum 

radiation dose for every type of cancer for which radiation doses are reconstructed that could 

have been incurred under plausible circumstances by any member of the class. Alternatively, 

radiation doses may be estimated with sufficient accuracy if NIOSH has established that it 

has access to sufficient information to estimate the radiation doses of members of the class 

more precisely than a maximum dose estimate. NIOSH determined that it has access to 

sufficient site-specific information to reconstruct radiation doses incurred by the class of 

employees covered by this report with sufficient accuracy.
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Determination:

St. Louis Airport Storage Site, St. Louis, Missouri Page 2

In a letter received by the Secretary on January 28, 2015, the Board, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 

7384q, agreed with the following NIOSH findings, effectively advising the Secretary that 

radiation dose can be reconstructed with sufficient accuracy for employees at the St. Louis 

Airport Storage Site (SLASS) (also referred to as “SLAPS”) in St. Louis, Missouri, in 

accordance with provisions of EEOICPA and the SEC final rule.

IV. Determination Findings

Feasibility of Estimating Radiation Doses with Sufficient Accuracy

The Secretary established the feasibility determination for the class of employees covered by 

this report based upon the findings summarized below.

 Principal sources of internal radiation exposures for members of the proposed class 

included exposures to radon that diffused through the clean fill cover and potential 

exposure to radon and other radionuclides from contaminated debris and residual source 

material.

 NIOSH has access to sufficient personnel monitoring, area monitoring, and source term 

data that, when coupled with existing exposure assessments, support the reconstruction of 

internal doses at SLASS during the period from November 3, 1971, through December 

31, 1973, and again from January 1, 1984, through December 31, 1998.

 NIOSH has determined that it can reconstruct internal dose from all sources at SLASS

during the period from November 3, 1971, through December 31, 1973, and again from 

January 1, 1984, through December 31, 1998.

 Principal sources of external radiation exposures for members of the proposed class 

included exposures to gamma emissions that penetrate through the clean fill cover and 

potentially to gamma and beta emissions from contaminated debris and residual source 

material.

 NIOSH has located sufficient personnel monitoring, area monitoring and source term 

data that, when coupled with existing dose reconstruction methods and exposure 

assessments, support the reconstruction of external doses at SLASS during the period 

from November 3, 1971, through December 31, 1973, and again from January 1, 1984, 

through December 31, 1998.

 NIOSH plans to use existing methods to reconstruct occupational medical X-ray doses 

for the evaluated time periods.

 NIOSH has determined that it can reconstruct external dose from all sources at SLASS 

during the period from November 3, 1971, through December 31, 1973, and again from 

January 1, 1984, through December 31, 1998.
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 In sum, NIOSH determined that it has access to sufficient site-specific information to 

either (1) estimate the maximum internal and external radiation dose for every type of 

cancer for which radiation doses are reconstructed that could have been incurred under 

plausible circumstances by any workers at SLASS during the period from November 3, 

1971, through December 31, 1973, and again from January 1, 1984, through December 

31, 1998; or (2) estimate the internal and external radiation doses to workers at SLASS 

during the period from November 3, 1971, through December 31, 1973, and again from 

January 1, 1984, through December 31, 1998, more precisely than a maximum dose 

estimate. The Board concurred with this determination.

 The Board concurred with NIOSH's determination that that dose reconstruction is 

feasible for the class of SLASS workers covered by Petition 00150 for the period 

from November 3, 1971, through December 31, 1973, and again from January 1, 

1984, through December 31, 1998, and therefore should not be added to the SEC.

Health Endangerment

Because the Secretary established that it is feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy the 

radiation doses encountered by employees at the St. Louis Airport Storage Site in St. Louis, 

Missouri, as specified in this class, a determination of health endangerment is not required.

V. Effect of the Determination

Members of the class of employees covered by this determination and their survivors 

continue to be eligible to submit claims for compensation under EEOICPA. As required for 

cancer claims covering other Department of Energy and Atomic Weapons Employer 

employees (or Atomic Weapons Employees) not included in the SEC, qualified cancer 

claims under Part B of EEOICPA for members of this class will be adjudicated by the 

Department of Labor, in part on the basis of radiation dose reconstructions, which will be 

conducted by NIOSH.

VI. Administrative Review of Determination

The determination provided in this report may be subject to an administrative review within 

HHS, pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.18(a). On the basis of such a review, if the Secretary 

decides to designate the class of employees covered by this determination, in part or in 

whole, as an addition to the SEC, the Secretary would transmit a new report to Congress

providing the designation and the criteria and findings on which the decision was based.